I hardly wore short sleeves in NZ. Always hot sleeves. In summer also.

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Added on March 21, 2008, 2:37 pm/me cries at the stupidity of Malaysians here.

Today is Good Friday. Monday will be Easter. Without going too much into religon, Good Friday was the day Jesus was crucified, and he rose on Easter. Hence the holidays here.

Limeuu is right; you "westerners" should come to Sabah and Sarawak more often.

For the record <EdLiNa>, the ph limeuu was refering to means public holiday.

Yes, it is (the end of) summer now in NZ, and no, it never gets as hot as Malaysia. Maybe you'll get a few warm days one or two days a year, but that's pretty much it.

So much for allegedly reading this whole thread.

This post has been edited by haya: Mar 21 2008, 02:37 PM

Okay, yesterday was the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, But I'd say it was Hari Raya yesterday, just because it sounds more "geng" and fun and sounds like more food to eat.

Believe me, some kiwi's know more about M'sia than you think. You can complain that the 'locals" may not understand Islam, but have you, as a Muslim, ever considered to understand other religons?

Since Malaysia is supposedly a "multicultural" place, where supposedly all religons co-exist side by side, why do we still have people showing their ignorance then? And I'm not just talking about you fantagero.

Sorry. It was a blooper on my part. Calendar got me all mixed up with the actual day and holiday. My bad.

Okay, I'll let the matter rest this time, but I'll just say this: open discussion is all about what this forum (and the internet) is about.

If one had to sum up Malaysian students on one paragraph, this would be it.

Not to mention being seperated by language; imcompetent in English, racist in Malay and narowminded in mandarin.

Some of my Malaysian friends call me wikipedia simply because I know what the capital of Kyrgyzstan is. They don't know who Lim Guan Eng is. Never heard of Lingam. Only Dayak's live in Sarawak, and because they're "bumiputera's" they're all Muslim. The "prime minister" of Sarawak is a Malay. But hell, ask them to write an essay on the Privy council, up comes wikipedia, textbooks and recommended reading, and they get a 5 for it.

I'm seriously not making any of these up. This is my real life.

While both options are okay, I suggest that you seriously considering going through Christchurch(CHC). One of the problems with Auckland is that the domestic and international terminals are seperate, so getting from one to the other will be a problem, as AFAIK they can't check through your luggage for you all the way to Palmy. I suppose people flying AK will be used to it...................

In CHC everything is contained in one nice building.


I only wish the internet could broaden their minds. More often than not however, they simply use the internet to live in their own bubble world, pimping out their friendster profile, poking everyone on Facebook, goth'ing their MySpace, talking about porn, they know all the soccer forums, but don't know who Jeff Ooi is, and closer to home, have you seen the number of threads from post-STPM and Diploma holders from TARC who are pleading for help here?

Oh, and while the government does send out people to "broaden their mind", I want those MARA scholars, after their minds are open, to come back and do what I paid them to do!

1) I'm a product of NCEA (don't ask), and personally the whole debate between NCEA and A levels is simply moot. I've never seen Bursary, so I can't say on this matter, but for all the flaws of NCEA, I'd say it is better in preparing people for the real world and university at the same time.

2)Getting into NZ uni's may be easy, but staying in there is another thing. Undergrads for law, while everyone is accepted in at 1st year, they trim you down by second year. For some numbers, Auckland U takes in close to 1000 students for Law every year, but about only 300-400 will only progress to second year. And this is a trend repeated over all NZ uni's. I admit, this is partially in responce to the weaknesses of NCEA however.

And even in "we don't filter you after 1st year" Computer Science, people are dropping like flies. In Canterbury University, about 500 CS students were admitted in 2006. Here in 2008, only 110 brave souls survive from that cohort.

Easy to get in, hard to stay put. The merits and disadvantages are another topic for another day.

3)I've noticed that newspaper penetration is very high in both Australia and NZ, compared to M'sia. Yes, there is a serious blind spot on non-western matters (or matters which the west has to meddle in), but most people are well informed on generally that is happening in NZ, which is crucial in a Responsible Government system. I suppose that is also one of the strengths of a mono-lingual society.

Welcome to the gang. They all look at me like I'm from Mars (and sometimes I'm convinced I am) when I bang on about the M'sian education system vs the Singaporean education system.

Sadly, in M'sia, anything outside academic use and soccer, is useless knowledge.

Unfortunately EmperorMeng, it doesn't seem so, or else I would go back there in a heartbeat (subject to terms and conditions through).

References:
http://www.law.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/law/for/...s/selection.cfm
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/courses/undergrad/llb.shtml
http://www.otago.ac.nz/courses/qualifications/llb.html

I don't see what's the problem. Some people will want to settle down in nz on a long term basis. The sooner they adapt to the system and environment, the better.

Not everyone's future in M'sia is as bright as yours y'know.

Did you watch "Here to Stay" (http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/536641/1160701)on TV2 last year? Specifically the Chinese bit. I found it interesting.

You're right on your observation through. I suppose its the fact that when one is cut off from their original culture, and to compensate for it they try to fit in to 'white' culture, simply because its a white nation here.

Mahathir documented this very well in this book "The Malay Dilema", when once immigrants are assimilated into the nation (he used the US of A as his example), it is the (former) immigrants who become more zealous than the locals in protecting their new national identity, even "look down on their fellow Malaysians/Asians". At the end of the day, we have to move on from the face/country card. One may have originated from M'sia, but when one is as good as a kiwi in speech, thought and outlook, the ties of the "nation" no longer bind.

I wouldn't go to the extent of saying "better", but things have changed in M'sia, with the advent of company's such as Universal Traveler. Still, buy one or 2, and as the seasons/times change, buy some here.

Nz's the best place if you do somehow decide to study law. You want those long and cold nights when you're reading up on all those cases.

On a more random note, how was Earth Hour in CHC?

You can get Milo in NZ. Some say it does not taste the same as the M'sian one, but personally i cant tell.

Don't forget, a lot of Hindu's are also vegetarian. Try organising a meeting of doctors in M'sia.

Personally, I have no problem with you not being able to eat certain foods. For some, its not that they want to be healthy; its due to health reasons. For others, its allergies. I can't go for most buffets. Can't eat sea food.

The thing is, I just don't understand why Muslims and Vegetarians in general are so radical in their eating habits. Not to generalize, but when I go out, I ask if there is any seafood in some food, and if there is I just have to avoid it. Sure, everyone says I'm missing out on the prawns, mussels, oysters etc, but I don't have a choice, and I don't complain. If there is meat, then don't eat it. Bring your own organic vegetables if you want, if the vegatbles we serve are tainted and/or not as nice. No one put a gun to your head and ask you to come.

Same for Muslims/Hindus/Buddhists. When I'm with some of my Buddhists friends we try to go to a place where they can at least get vegetables. We're sorry if the food is not halal, but it your choice of life. Sorry that steak is usually beef, but you'll just have to make do. We try to accommodate to your religious belief's, but no one ever considers accommodating my health issues! I don't say a thing, but while you guys moan its all about your religion, for me, the issue is more down to earth. I could end up in hospital.


There's bird flu to consider........

Have fun, and Kia Ora to New Zealand!

How much is your limit?

Residential colleges usually have very generous connections. A friend of mine in Palmy gets 10GB/month for $40. And it wasn't that long ago that Otago gave its students unlimited use of their network.

[rant]
i curse the day the internet escaped from the labs to the masses. We were quite happy in our labs, with unlimited 5Mbit connections. Now we are reduced to a 750MB rolling quota, but they still tease us with 5Mbits of speed.

Its all those people on Myspace/Facebook/Youtube I tell you. People who think they are 1337 just because they can move some widgets around, but know nuts about PERL.
[/rant]

fantagero, how much are you paying for your place at Ilam Village per week? It seems like its the same company setting up the student accommodation here in QUT, Brisbane. (http://www.clv-kelvingrove.com.au)

And yes, once you've tried real fresh milk, it is hard to go back to powdered milk.

Assuming you get into Auckland U as an International student, and while studying you (NOT your parents) end up with a NZ PR, you will booted out of your course, and will have to reapply as a domestic student. While there is a high chance you will get it, you might like to keep this fact in mind.

As for transfering to UoA, it is done by a case by case basis by the university.

[offtopic]
http://www.intimal.edu.my is enough to make a ASP programmer worth his salt scream
[/offtopic]

Well, how else do you expect universities to standardise the compentency of English of its students?

There are many pre-U qualifications. Off the top of my head I can name 5, that can be taken in Malaysia and generally accepted by UoA, alone. How is anyone to figure the standard of English based on such a diverse range of qualifications?

I'm not defending IELTS, it has it flaws, but until someone comes with a better solution, there is no other way in determining one's standard of English without an international benchmark.

The great thing about New Zealand is that their upper 4 uni's are all competent. In NZ, it does not matter where you graduated from. There is no such thing as "prestige" in NZ. It is a very egalitarian country, through some might say they do bring it too far with things like NCEA.

Some uni's have their strengths. In particular Canterbury is well regared in Science/Engineering, and Otago's accounting/commerce courses are highly thought of. However, this is not to mean an Engineering graduate of Otago is inferior to one from Canterbury, nor is a accounting student from Canterbury any less employable. At the end of the day, your qualification only gets you to the interview room. If you've a useless employee, you get the sack, regardless of which uni you gradauted from.

This is a concept that is very alien to many Malaysians.

aaron4d, if I were you, I'd make my decision on where to go on other factors, such a cost of living, air connectivity, social connections etc, rather than the perceived "prestige" of a university.

Whoops. My bad.

Don't forget the things people do at Baldwin St.

Lest we forget.

I strongly recommend against that. Yes, theoritically you can squeeze it in 5 years if you overload every semester and do all summers, but it will be very tight, hard work, and you'd be so busy, you'd end up in your room to yourself. You wouldn't have the time to do the crazy things.

4 subjects is hard as it is. 5 subjects is murder in one semester, let alone for the next 4 years. Think carefully.

That said, I'm in the more technical field of Computer Science. I've noticed that Econs students tend to be less busy, and I know one Econs (Accounting) friend of mine who did 5 subjects because he "was bored".

However, Law is still limited entry, and UoA is notorious for filtering out law students after your first year. The good thing is that if you don't make the cut for the Law component, you'd still get credit for the electives in your BCom degree. I strongly do not recommend studying law in NZ in general if you are a international student.

And in Auckland, try not to end up with a Chinese landlord. I'm not saying all pakeha landlords are good (I had my share of issues with one), but generally as I see it, Chinese landlords will squeeze 10 people into one house, and it can be a dump of a place.

Don't forget your IRD number too. I've seen quite a few students being taxed at the maximum (close to 40%).

And I'll never understand why Malaysians will wake up at 2am to watch a few men in long stockings kick a ball, why Kiwi's will wake up at 6am when its 2C outside to row a boat on a river/bay.

Its amazing really how some of my friends know(knew?) all about Beckingham palace but don't know about where the Queen lives.